View Full Version : My new favorite player... Matt Bowen #41
If you watched Sportcenter today you probably seen the hit #30 Trung Candidate took today in practice.
The blow was delivered by #41 Matt Bowen. The hit was VICIOUS!! I never heard of Matt Bowen before, but his name will definitely be permanent in my head after what I saw today.
My new favorite player, #41 Matt Bowen (That is all I know about his, he plays for the Redskins, he's white, probably a safety, #41, and mugged Trung Candidate after he layed him out!! WAHH)
I love this guy!!
INDalltheway
07-31-2003, 01:37 AM
That hit was awesome! That alone is getting me pumped up for the upcoming football season!
It was a crushing hit!! Some sign of a Brian Dawkinsesque delivery.
But Dawkins uses more of his helmet like Rodney Harrison tends to do.
Just ask Darrel Jackson.
tucker342
07-31-2003, 12:58 PM
And he went to the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA:D
MizzouRah
07-31-2003, 01:02 PM
If I'm not mistaken, both those players are former Rams players. I know Trung is, but I think Bowen is as well.
Todd
Iceberg
07-31-2003, 01:06 PM
Trung was running completely straight up what the hell did he expect to happen to him? He deserved to get layed out.
Franklinnoble
07-31-2003, 01:11 PM
I pity the fool that has to go over the middle on the Redskins secondary this year. ;)
primelord
07-31-2003, 01:13 PM
Originally posted by Franklinnoble
I pity the fool that has to go over the middle on the Redskins secondary this year. ;)
Don't get too excited. Bowen couldn't cut it in a Rams secondary that very badly needed safeties. He plays with a lot of heart, but is pretty short on talent. He wouldn't have been able to put a hit like that on Trung if Trung thought he was going to do that. They weren't supposed to be hitting in that drill.
TroyF
07-31-2003, 03:52 PM
Originally posted by primelord
Don't get too excited. Bowen couldn't cut it in a Rams secondary that very badly needed safeties. He plays with a lot of heart, but is pretty short on talent. He wouldn't have been able to put a hit like that on Trung if Trung thought he was going to do that. They weren't supposed to be hitting in that drill.
Exactly, I can't believe how happy people are that a defenseless player was just layed out. He was running straight up because the drill was a light contact drill.
Simply put, he's lucky it was Trung Candidate and not Laverneus Coles he layed out. Had he hit Coles, he'd be looking for a new job now.
TroyF
Franklinnoble
07-31-2003, 04:10 PM
Originally posted by primelord
Don't get too excited. Bowen couldn't cut it in a Rams secondary that very badly needed safeties. He plays with a lot of heart, but is pretty short on talent. He wouldn't have been able to put a hit like that on Trung if Trung thought he was going to do that. They weren't supposed to be hitting in that drill.
Hey, they got Jason Sehorn... what would they need Matt Bowen for?
:D
JeeberD
07-31-2003, 04:33 PM
Even if he makes the squad he'll still be, at best, the third hardest hitter in the NFC East behind Woody and Roy Williams...
primelord
07-31-2003, 04:47 PM
Originally posted by JeeberD
Even if he makes the squad he'll still be, at best, the third hardest hitter in the NFC East behind Woody and Roy Williams...
I didn;t realize Woody Dantzler could hit that hard. ;)
Kodos
07-31-2003, 04:49 PM
Woody can lay the lumber.
I thought Matt Bowen was from Green Bay?
JeeberD
07-31-2003, 05:10 PM
It gets kinda confusing having two Woodys on the team... :)
Originally posted by JeeberD
It gets kinda confusing having two Woodys on the team... :) You were talking about Darren Woodson right?
Fonzie
07-31-2003, 06:06 PM
Originally posted by sony
I thought Matt Bowen was from Green Bay?
He was originally a special teamer in GB, but I believe he left as a free agent a year or two ago.
JeeberD
07-31-2003, 06:47 PM
Originally posted by sony
You were talking about Darren Woodson right?
Yup!
I have yet to see if Woody Dantzler is a hard hitter yet...
ctmason
07-31-2003, 08:09 PM
Why is everyone enthusiastic that a player lacks the discipline to follow the rules of a drill and risks injuring a fellow player just to do a little, "look at me?"
That kind of crap wasn't tolerated during summer practice in 8th grade.
jamesUMD
07-31-2003, 08:48 PM
Bowen never played for St. Louis. He was a restricted free agent for Green Bay the the Redskins signed during the offseason and gave up a 6th round pick for when GB did not match. So, sorry but the comment about him not cutting it in the St Louis secondary doesn't apply. He may not be the second coming of Ronnie Lott but I'll take him for a sixth round pick!
jamesUMD - Can you tell me the name of the other white guy standing next to Bowens after he delivered that monster hit? I can't remember his number. I think it was #43 or something. He looks like a safety that could have done what Bowens did to Trung if he was in Bowens pos.
Originally posted by jamesUMD
Bowen never played for St. Louis. Actually, he did play for the Rams. He even won the teams 'Rookie of the Year' during his tenure with the Rams (Rams beat Tennessee to win SB this year, remember, eh?)
Here's a PDF to Bowens bio:
http://www.packers.com/images/pdf/bowen_matt_02bio.pdf
Subby
08-01-2003, 06:46 AM
Bowen registered 15 tackles in the Packers playoff game against Atlanta last year. I know this never happens, but maybe he's a late bloomer.
The best quote immediately following that hit came from Lavar Arrington who yelled, "This ain't soccer!!"
Bowen was brought in to start and contrary to a few commetns, there is no way he is getting cut.
All I am asking from this dude is that he carries this to the season and continue entertaining us with these jaw dropping hits.
TroyF
08-01-2003, 10:12 AM
Subby,
Had the hit been on Coles, they'd have scoured the market and found a new safety. Candidate? Who cares. A middling signing guy who may not even win the starting job. Coles? Nope. He'd have a major fine at the least and would most likely be released.
With the roster limits being what they are, you cannot have defensive players taking cheap shots at your skill position players before the season starts. I don't care wheather you are Matt Bowen or Lavar Arrington.
As someone else already stated in this thread, that type of behavior isn't acceptable in 8th grade football, much less the NFL.
As for Arrington yelling "this aint soccer" who can forget this is a guy who spent one Saturday afternoon laying out the opposing punter 300 times 40 yards in front of the play instead of going downfield and trying to create a lane for his return man? Arrington is one of my favorite players to watch, but I'm not going to be listening to him give tips on how to be a classy football player either.
TroyF
Franklinnoble
08-01-2003, 12:21 PM
Bowen's Tackle Is a Big Hit
'It Looked Worse Than It Was'
By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2003; Page D01
When Washington Redskins safety Matt Bowen passed offensive coordinator Hue Jackson in a hallway at Redskins Park yesterday, Bowen said: "You still mad at me?" Jackson grinned and replied: "I was never mad at you. How could I be after you made SportsCenter?"
Bowen was a staple on sports highlights shows Tuesday night. His jarring hit on Redskins tailback Trung Canidate during a training-camp drill made for good television, with Canidate being sent airborne by the shoulder-first blow. Canidate emerged unscathed but the hit drew the ire of Redskins Coach Steve Spurrier, who reprimanded Bowen. Some longtime Redskins observers said they never had seen such a rugged tackle in training camp.
But as the Redskins returned to work with a morning practice yesterday, coaches and players said they now know they might have an honest-to-goodness intimidator in their secondary -- a positive development indeed as long as Bowen remembers to save his abuse for the opponent.
"It's better to have him on my team than the other team," wide receiver Rod Gardner said. "I'd rather play with him than play against him."
Said defensive coordinator George Edwards: "We don't want anyone on our own team to get hurt. We need everybody we've got. But Matt's been that way since before we got him. He's very competitive and aggressive, and it just came out. It looked worse than it was. I guarantee he didn't intentionally try to hurt someone."
Bowen said he saw replays of the hit and wasn't sure what he should think.
"I had mixed feelings about it," he said. "He's my teammate. I think it got a little blown out of proportion, to tell you the truth, because it's practice. Guys get a little edgy sometimes. It happened. Coach put an end to it right after it, and we'll move on."
Bowen, 26, was one of the four restricted free agents acquired in the offseason, signing a four-year, $6 million contract. A second-team all-American at Iowa, Bowen mostly was a backup in three seasons with the Green Bay Packers but made six regular season starts last year and was credited with 42 tackles, then had 15 more in Green Bay's playoff loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
When Redskins officials watched tapes of Bowen's play with the Packers, they saw a fast, tough player who could help their defense against the run and make receivers think twice about coming over the middle. That, they thought, would provide a perfect complement for the coverage skills of cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Fred Smoot.
"I don't think you can consider yourself an intimidator," Bowen said. "I think other people can say that about you. We'll see. If I can make some big hits during the season, maybe some people will start saying it. . . . With the type of corners we have in Champ and Fred, if that can be my role, that's only going to help us. . . . Call me corny. Call me whatever you want, but I don't have expectations for myself. I want to win. I want to be on a winning team and win a championship. That's all I care about."
Smoot said he likes what he sees so far. "I can tell you two things that help a cornerback -- a good defensive line and a good safety," he said. "If the offense is scared to throw certain routes, it's in your favor. With a hard-hitting safety like that, the receivers get some alligator arms. . . . He's another Fred Smoot. They went and signed another Fred Smoot."
Bowen said he takes pride in being an all-out player, even in practice. He arrived with the starting free safety job all but his, but has practiced like a rookie trying to earn a roster spot. And contrary to appearances, Bowen has not been spending his time off the field plowing over teammates in the lunch line.
"Matt is quiet," Gardner said. "You don't hear him do too much talking. They're the ones you have to look out for because they're the ones who will sneak up on you. . . . I like Matt. I know Matt didn't want to hurt anybody, but at the same time, he was showing what he's capable of. Matt's a hard-nosed safety. You love to have that kind of guy on your team. He knows we're all in this together, but he's out here competing."
For now, though, Spurrier will continue to offer reminders that he wants to see a little restraint.
"I think it's only good when you're hitting the opponents," he said yesterday. "I don't think you beat up your teammates -- never have believed it, never will believe it. You've got to learn how to practice together. Now if we can hit the opponent like that, that's perfectly legal because they're going to hit us like that. But you can't do that against teammates."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
primelord
08-01-2003, 12:44 PM
Originally posted by jamesUMD
Bowen never played for St. Louis. He was a restricted free agent for Green Bay the the Redskins signed during the offseason and gave up a 6th round pick for when GB did not match. So, sorry but the comment about him not cutting it in the St Louis secondary doesn't apply. He may not be the second coming of Ronnie Lott but I'll take him for a sixth round pick!
YEAR TEAM G GS TOT SOLO AST SK SYD STF STYD SF FF BK INT YDS AVG LNG TD PD
2000 STL 16 2 16 14 2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 2
2001 GB 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2002 GB 16 6 45 31 14 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 1 0 1 0 0.0 0 0 6
Total 37 8 61 45 16 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0.0 0 0 8
As you can clearly see from his career stats he absolutely played for the Rams. And he did a very poor job when he was in there. Now as Subby said he might just be coming into his own now, but I watched him play 16 games in 2000 and watched him miss lots of tackles and get burned on a lot of deep passing plays. He was always in poor position and overall just wasn't very good.
BishopMVP
08-01-2003, 01:49 PM
Originally posted by Franklinnoble
"I can tell you two things that help a cornerback -- a good defensive line and a good safety," he said. "If the offense is scared to throw certain routes, it's in your favor. With a hard-hitting safety like that, the receivers get some alligator arms. . . . He's another Fred Smoot. They went and signed another Fred Smoot."
Fred Smoot, the cockiest man alive.
Franklinnoble
08-01-2003, 01:53 PM
Originally posted by BishopMVP
Fred Smoot, the cockiest man alive.
And, while unintentional, he's also funny, too.
Franklinnoble,
Thanks for the heads up on the article man! :D
Franklinnoble
08-01-2003, 07:17 PM
Originally posted by sony
Franklinnoble,
Thanks for the heads up on the article man! :D
No problem... I'm a die-hard Redskins fan, and I read the Washington Post sports page just about every day...
Craptacular
08-02-2003, 12:44 AM
I really liked Bowen when he was on the Pack. He seemed like a pretty heady, tough, and aggressive player. However, I don't blame the Pack for not matching the offer.
MizzouRah
08-02-2003, 01:24 PM
The Redskins secondary couldn't contain the Rams recievers even if Deion was on the team. :) Ok, I'm getting ready for football and talking smack.
Rams, baby!
Todd
44Niners
08-02-2003, 08:35 PM
Originally posted by ctmason
Why is everyone enthusiastic that a player lacks the discipline to follow the rules of a drill and risks injuring a fellow player just to do a little, "look at me?"
That kind of crap wasn't tolerated during summer practice in 8th grade.
that was exactly what I was thinking - practice hero. hitting someone in a non-contract drill is not good football and does not show how tough anyone is, he is lucky he wasn't cut on the spot.
vBulletin v3.6.0, Copyright ©2000-2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.